An immersive new First World War play by local theatre troupe Grindstone is currently showing at the Tristan Bates Theatre – readers of The Brixton Blog get £10 tickets by booking online and using the promo code ‘Olive’. Arts Co Editor Barney Evison interviews producer Sonnie Beckett.
On the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War, there’s plenty of commemorative arts events on offer for a discerning London culture vulture. Creatives across the capital have seized on this historical milestone as a hook for exploring established themes in new and exciting ways – only recently we covered the innovative Loughborough Junction World War One augmented reality app.
If you’re hungry for more, don’t miss The Glasshouse, a new play by Brixton-based playwright Max Saunders-Smith staged at the Tristan Bates Theatre this month by Max’s company Grindstone, which he founded with fellow Italia Conti alumna Sonnie in 2013 – its run ends next Saturday. Their first show RIP, a musical about Jack the Ripper written by Sonnie, received critical acclaim and is transferring to the West End in 2015.
The Glasshouse focuses on the experiences of two British soldiers thrown together in a makeshift prison (a ‘glasshouse’ in WWI-speak) on the back line of the Somme. One is a victim of shellshock, the other is a conscientious objector, and both face court martial and possible execution for cowardice. A friendship develops between the two men and their tragic story is played out against the violent backdrop of trench warfare.
The First World War may have been 100 years ago, but it’s still an emotive subject. Sonnie assures me that Grindstone worked hard to ensure they’re not pulled up for historical inaccuracies. “Max had to do so much research – if you get it wrong you’re going to offend a lot of people,” she says.
I wonder what the team think of Blackadder’s comic take on life in the trenches, recently criticised by former Education Secretary Michael Gove. “I love it!” says Sonnie. “Everything in it is actually so true, like the court scene, they were shambolic. The judge was usually a junior officer with little experience. In our play, the conscientious objector is told ten minutes before his trial that he doesn’t have a prisoner’s friend [legal representation] which was also quite common.”
Astoundingly, the men sentenced to death in this way were only officially pardoned in 2006. It’s clear that society is still grappling with the issues that the play explores. “I don’t think we’ve learnt that much,” says Sonnie, “soldiers are still suffering from shell-shock and mental illness is still such a taboo. There’s still that misconception about masculinity, about hiding feelings and reactions.”
Grindstone want to throw their audience straight into the war itself, and it’s a ‘claustrophobic, immersive’ production. “It’s…be loud and inescapable,” says Sonnie, “there’ll be subwoofers so whenever a shell goes off, you’ll feel it in your stomach.” The theatre will be filled with the smells of the trenches, gunpowder and real food, which the cast will be eating onstage.
The director Sebastien Blanc (son of chef Raymond) is “ruthless”. “He’s giving them a really hard time,” she says “so they can really feel the hardship of the trenches – although of course it’ll be nothing like as much as it was for the real soldiers.” The whole cast has struggled, emotionally and physically, during the production and rehearsals they’ve been holding at local space Arch 468. “Each actor has come up to me individually and said it’s the hardest thing they’ve ever done,” says Sonnie. To get into the psyche of someone facing life or death for each performance has evidently been a huge challenge.
The Glasshouse is an engaging and provocative show. This is no sentimental drama celebrating the camaraderie and heroism of First World War. “It looks at the darker underbelly of the war, the stories that get brushed under the carpet, and the unsung heroes,” says Sonnie. “Our piece commemorates, but it doesn’t celebrate. It raises a lot of poignant questions which may cause argument, but that’s what we think theatre’s all about.”
The Glasshouse runs until 22 November at the Tristan Bates Theatre in the West End. Bugle readers get £10 tickets – just enter the code ‘Olive’ when you book online.
